Sign language interpreter Lydia Calas became one of the storm's breakout stars thanks to her exaggerated facial expressions that brought extra life to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's updates. Andrew Burton/Getty Images

October 30, 2012

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Colossal superstorm Sandy may have inflicted record levels of damage on New York City and the East Coast, but its slow-brewing start gave the internet time to respond in the only way it knows how: Satirical memes. Even as the storm ravaged the East Coast, flooding countless homes and knocking out power for millions of Americans, the Sandy jokes continued, if only to offer a blip of comic relief. Here, a round-up of some of the more inspired distractions from the storm's harsh realities.

1. Oh, SandyAs newscasters issued early warnings about the storm's size and path, the internet was quick to mock the hurricane's given name, referencing Olivia Newton John's good-girl-gone-bad character in Grease. In this rather perverse "hurricane tribute" video, YouTube user robbo34 plays John Travolta's anguished love song "Sandy" over early images of storm's trajectory:

2. The sign language ladyOne of the storm's biggest breakout stars was Lydia Calas, the sign-language interpreter who appeared at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's side whenever he made a public statement. Bloomberg's live storm updates, sometimes expressed in stilted Spanish, were translated by Calas, who underlined the drama with extremely committed facial expressions that became an immediate Twitter hit. Her mesmerizing display inspired gifs and her own Tumblr:

3. #RomneyStormTipsWhile people waited for Sandy to make landfall on Monday, the internet took the opportunity to mock Mitt Romney and his wealth with a faux Twitter account, @RomneyStormTips, which has since been taken down, and hashtag, #RomneyStormTips, offering satirical guidance in the face of the storm's destruction:

"Everyone in the path of the hurricane should head to their second or third homes for safety." #RomneyStormTips

5. @AHurricaneSandyOf course, soon after the news of the impending storm broke, Sandy got its own Twitter account. In the early hours and days, @AHurricaneSandy tweeted attitude-filled updates on the storm's relentless attack with all-caps aggression: